I don’t even care right now. I’m just so happy to have Ronan back.
We turn the last corner but find our path to the secret passage blocked by more than a dozen palace guards.
And there, at the other end of the hall, is Adria. “Stop them!” she yells, whipping her blonde hair behind her shoulders as she gathers more of her guards behind her, the guards in front barreling towards us down the narrow corridor.
“Adria!” I call back. “Stand and fight us!”
“Come and get me,” she replies, and she takes her guard.
Chapter Forty-Six
We clash with Adria’s guards first, the underground corridor descending into chaos as magic flies and steel meets steel in the confined space.
The fight is quick and bloody, our disarming strategy forcing the guards to keep their distance from us and to barrage us with thrown weapons, which is effective given our lack of armor or shields, except that Ronan and I also have the power to heal. Seth, Taran, and Octavia form a line in the front, taking the worst of the damage but pressing ahead as they collect throwing knives and daggers with Ronan and I relieving those of them brave enough to challenge us of their swords.
The guards keep coming, but Adria herself doesn’t step forward. She watches us in astonishment, finally seeing the true extent of our power. But she’s too proud to run. She’ll stand and fight us no matter how outmatched she may be.
Then there’s a scream from up the stairs where she’s just come from, a scream that sounds just like my own.
“Mother!” shouts Adria, taking off up the stairs after her.
“Did she say ‘Mother’?” asks Ronan. “Has she gone mad?”
“Unfortunately, she hasn’t. Our mother is alive. And she’s—it’s—” I can’t form the words. I can’t begin to describe what it was like to get my mother back only to immediately lose her again through her terrible actions. To wake up each morning and remember that she’s with us once more, but that because of her, Larus isn’t.
But thankfully, I don’t have to explain. Ronan can feel it.
“Oh, my darling,” he says, holding my hand and rubbing the spot where her ring used to be. “I’m sorry.”
We make it through the guards and to the staircase before we hear the screech.
“Quinn!” yells Octavia, taking off ahead of us.
“Quinn? Is she here?” asks Cyrus. He’s managed to stay alive so far by staying at the back out of the way, but this staircase leads into a courtyard. The courtyard where Quinn has landed Bitey, by the sounds of the fighting above.
Ronan stops and holds him by the shoulder. “You need to stay back, Cyrus. Get into a servants’ passage. We’ll help her.”
“But, sir. She’s my daughter. My only girl.”
“She’ll kill us if we let something happen to you,” I say.
And Cyrus knows that’s true. “Help her. Please. Then do what you were born to do.”
“We will,” I say, the power surging through my veins in agreement. “I swear it.”
Cyrus nods gratefully, a great gesture of affection from him, and continues up the stairs as we enter the courtyard.
Though I still haven’t learned every corridor and courtyard in the palace yet, this one I know well: it’s where I met Quinn when we signed up for the tournament.
And it’s where I see her now, swooping down with Bitey, who grabs one of Adria’s guards with his lion paws and shreds him, tossing him to the ground like it’s nothing.
“Where are those archers?” yells Mother from somewhere nearby, but I don’t see her.
This courtyard is a terrible place to fight. There are dozens of columns and arches of tan and pink stone, tons of benches and low-lying bushes to hide behind. I can sense a large number of people out here with the power, but none of them are familiar enough to me to identify.
Not even my own mother.
We duck behind the nearest benches ourselves as I try to find her and Adria.
